Collapsible wardrobe



IVI. L. HALL. coLLAPsmLE WARDROBE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN.3,I92I.

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M. L. HALL.

' `COLLFIPSIBLE WARDROBE.

APPLICATION FILED mma, 1921.

ci? L 62 'A 61 I v w UNITED STATES MARY LUCY HALL, OF LOUISVILLE,KENTUCKY.

COLLAPSIBLE WARDROBE.'

Application led January 3, 1921.

T o all whom 1f/may concern.'

Be it known that I, MARY LUCY HALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofKentucky, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements inCollapsible lVardrobes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to collapsible wardrobes.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a collapsiblewardrobe, especially adapted for temporary use for protecting all kindsof wearing apparel worn by men, women or children, such as suits ofclothing, hats, and the like, and providing a desirable covering forsuch articles, that is easily and quickly assembled and notobjectionablev in ap earance.

nother object is to provide' a device of the character described thatmay be compactly folded into -a package, of relatively small dimensions,that may be carried n a suitcase or small trunk when not in use.

Another object is to provide a folding, rlgid frame for supporting anddistending the bag or cover to render it conveniently available for use.

Another object is to provide an upper` -bag and clothes hooks upon whichthe garments are suspended.

Other, further and more specific objects of the invention will becomereadily apparent, to persons skilled in the art, from a considerationofthe following description, when taken in conjunction with thedrawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view ofr the wardrobe set upfor use and closed.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the front side open.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of the upper, interior part looking towardthe front.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the upper spreader frame showing it open.

Fig. 5 is a side view showing it collapsed for shipment.

Fig.`6 is a plan Viewl showing position of the parts as the frame isbeing closed.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectlonal view of one of the joints, in thestraight bars.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a joint between the angular disposed bars ofthe frame.

Fig. 9 is a central section thereof. Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of oneend of the hanger bar and ,supporting hook.

Speoication of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Serial No. 434,516.

Fig. 11 is a central vertical section through the wardrobe whenassembled and set up for use, showing the drop bar extending from sideto side in rear of front opening.

F ig. 12 is an enlarged pocket to contain a spreader frame for forming apartition in the wardrobe, as shown in section in Fig. 11.

In all the views the same reference characters are employed to indicatesimilar parts.

The housing or cover for the device may be made of a suitable fabric,such as cretonne, or the like, and consists of two vertical side walls15`and 16, and a back wall 17. The front entrance wall is divided intotwo curtain-like portions 18 and 19, adapted to be secured togetheralong their proximate vertical edges by snap fastenings 20. The endclosure 21 is rectangular in form, secured at its meeting edges with theside walls and the back wall, as at 22, by sewing, or otherwise.

In the front of the structure and overlying the upper ends of themembers 18 and 19 is a band 23. The upper end of the curtain 18 is sewedto` the upper edge of the band 23 to the point 24, and the upper edge ofthe curtain 19 is sewed to the band 23, to the point 25. Beyond thispoint toward the free edges, snap fasteners 26 are used to hold thefront curtains to the band. A similar arrangement may be provided at thebottom of the structure, and snap fasteners 27 are located at intervalsalong the vertical and meeting edges of the` members 18 and 19 to snapand hold them together as shown more clearly in Fig. 1. Any arrangementof curtain closure closable on vertical lines will come withincontemplation of my invention.

The bottom end of the structure just described is closed by arectangular end member 21', which is similar in every respect to the endmember 21, which latter is located at the top end of the structure.

There are three spreader frames shown in the structure. A .larger numberof intermediate frames may be usd to supply additional shelves.

The upper spreader frame 28, as also are the other frames, is composedof a plurality of.l

bars hinged together, adapted to be arranged in rectangular form whenextended, as shown in Fig. 4, and to occupy smaller dimensions whencollapsed, as clearly shown in Fig. 5.

Parallel side bars 29 and 30 are as long as the transverse depth of thehousing which is to cover them to form the wardrobe. They loo los

extend from front to rear and areeach shown as equal to the lengths ofthe composite bar (31 and 32) or the parallel side bar (33 and 34)'. Therelative dimensions of the structure parts is not of materialinportance. Parallel with the composite side bar, 31 and 32, andintermediate this bar and the bar, 33 and 34, is a drop hanger barcomposed of the members 35 and 36. The drop hanger bar appears on theupper frame only. The bar, 35 and 36, and the parallel members on eitherside thereof are hinged together, as shown clearly in detail in Figs. 7and 10. lAs an example, the bar 32 is hinged to the bar 31 at a point37, somewhat removed from the end 38. to provide a means for holding thebar members more or less rigid when they are placed in extendedpositions. The hinged together bar members are provided with nestingindentations and protub'erances, as at 39. The extension of the bar 31beyond the rivet point 37, provides sufficient elasticity for the end 38to ride over the connected bar to allow the protuberance 40 to enter theindentation 41, of the bar 32. The object of this form of constructionis to hold the alining bars in rigid position when the frame occupies arec'- tangular form, as shown in Fig. 4.

To produce the same effect at the points where the bars are hingedtogether in angular relation, I provide the structure shown enlarged indetail in Figs. 8 and 9. In this form of structure, the protuberancesand indentations are produced. as at 42, and a spring washer 43 islocated between the head 44 of the rivet and the bar 32 to provide someyielding elasticity to permit some la'teral movement of the bars withrespect to each other so that the contacting surface of the bar 30 mayfreely ride over the protuberance 40 on the bar 32, this protuberancebeing provided by the indentation 41, as in the case just described.

After breaking the ,joints in the operation of collapsing the frame 28,the pivoted-together members move freely into collapsed position shownin Fig. 5.

0n the upper frame a drop hanger bar provided by the two members 35 and36 extends from side to side back of the front opening and is pivoted tothe side bars 29 and 30, respectively, and the members are pivotedtogether as at 45 by a hook member or stud 46, a part of which forms therivet and another portion part of the hook 47. the latter being hingedto the stud as at 4 8, to permit the hook to lie in a plane parallelwith the bars, as shown in Fig. 5, when the frame is collapsed. The hookalso swivels so that the structure may be rotated on the hook as theaxis.

A sleeve 49 overlies the shank 50 of the ho0k, and when the hook is invertical posi-l tion, as shown in Fig. lO, the sleeve also overlies thestud 46 to hold the hook rigidly in its vertical upright position.

The hook 47 is the means by which the wardrobe is suspended from a fixedsupport, such as a clothes hook, bracket, or the like.

The dropy bar, composed of the members 35 and 36, is corrugated atseparated intervals, as at, 51, to provide depressions in which toreceive -t-he clothes hooks upon which the articles of clothing are tobe suspended. The object of providing the depressions is to morepositively retain the clothes suspending hooks upon the bar and toprevent them from sliding in the event that the bar should be inclinedat an angle fromthe horizontal.

The bar is bent upwardly, as at 53, to provide a space between the uppersurface of the bar members and the fabric cover overlying the upper endof the frame for the entrance of the clothing suspending hooks in theact of placing the garments upon the suspending bar members 35 and 36,within thel wardrobe.

One or more shelves in the wardrobe may each be provided by a pocket 53,consisting of two parallel layers of fabric stitched together at meetingedges, or near such edges, as at 54, except at its front edge 55, whereit is left open. The rear edge of the pocket 53 is stitched to the rearwall 17, as at 56, and the three other edges are provided with flaps 5758 and 59, each flap being provided with spaced-apart snap fasteningmembers 60, for engaging relation with similar members 62 that aresecured to the side walls and located in a. horizontal plane near thebottom of the wardrobe structure, more clearly shown in Fig. 11.

A spreader frame, substantially the same in every respect as the frame28 shown in Fig. 4, with the exception that the drop hanger bar isomitted, is indicated by 61, is introduced into the pocket 53 whichserves as means for spreading apart the side walls of the fabricstructure, thus providing a partition and shelf. After the frame 61 hasbeen placed in this pocket, the flap 57 along the front edge is't-urneddownwardly and the snaps 60 are fastened to similar snaps located on thebottom surface of the lower layer of fabric constituting a part of thepocket 53, for the purpose of providing a finish at the exposed edge ofthe partition and for more securely holding the frame61 in place.

Another frame 63, similar to the frame 61, is placed in the bottom ofthe fabric structure which serves for spreading the fabric Walls andholding them in proper relation.

By use of the pocket 53, above the lower Wall 21 of the structure, aspace 64 is thus provided within which to contain hats or the like.pocket 53 and the frame 61, is not desirable If the shelf, provided bythe` within the inclosure, the frame may be removed from the pocket andthe snaps 60 and 62 disengaged, whereupon the two parallel sheets ofstitched-together fabric will hang limp against the rearwalls 17,without oc- Ucupying a great deal of space and the entire length of thewardrobe housing may be utilized for the garments that are suspendedfrom the drop bar. As many shelves as desired may thus be includedwithin the inclosure.

IVhile I have herein shown a single embodiment of myinvention, for thepurpose of clear disclosure, it will be manifest, to persons skilled inthe art, that many changes may be made in the general arrangement andconfiguration of the parts within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

l. A collapsible wardrobe having 'a plurality of detached spreaderframes, one at the top and one at the bottom; aseparable fabric covercomprising rectangular end members overlying the respective frames;

. three side walls, permanently fixed to the edges of said end membersof the cover; a front wall divided vertically into two side curtains,detachably fixed to the bottom end member cover and a band extendingbelow the front edge of the upper end member of the cover and across thefront wall to which the two parts of the front wall or curtains areattached by clasps and clasps connecting the proximate vertical edges ofthe two curtains of the front wall.

2. A collapsible wardrobe providing a housing of fabric of rectangularcross section having four side walls and two end walls, one side walldivided between the end walls to provide an opening having complementaryfastening devices to close the opening; two collapsible spreader frames,rectangulai` in cross section when extended and insertible in thehousing, one at the top and one at the bottom to hold the walls paralleland a hook on the upper frame extending through the upper end wall-bywhich to support the structure.

3. A collapsible wardrobe having an elongated, rectangular receptacle offabric, provided by four vertical side walls and two horizontal endwalls; collapsible spreader frames near each end ofthe receptacle tohold the side walls in parallel relation, the front wall divided intotwo vertically separated members; complementary fastening devices spacedapart and secured to adjacent vertical edges of the separated mem-wbers; a horizontally disposed pocket secured along its rear edge to therear wall and detachably secured along its side edges to the side wallsand a spreader frame within the pocket, thereby to provide a partitionin the structure.

4. In a device of the character described, a rectangular, collapsibleframe comprising two parallel, spaced apart bars; two angularly relatedparallel bars provided by hinged-together members, the latter membershinged to the respective ends of the first mentioned b'ars and springpressed latch members to yieldingly retain the frame members in extendedpositions.

5. In a device of the character described, a rectangular, collapsibleframe comprising two parallel, spaced apart, one-piece bars; twoangularly related parallel bars, each` provided by hinged-togethermembers, the latter members hinged to the respective ends of the rstmentioned bars; a drop bar having two hinged-together members and hingedto the one-piece bars between the aforesaid composite bars and springpressed latch members to yieldingly retain the frame members in extendedpositions'. A

6. In a device of the character described, a rectangular, collapsibleframe comprising two parallel, spaced apart,'onepiece bars; twoangularly related parallel bars, each provided by hinged-togethermembers, the latter members hinged to the respective ends of the firstmentioned bars; a drop bar having two hinged-together members and hingedto the one-piece bar between the aforesaid composite bars; a two-piecesupporting vhook having a shank divided into two parts hinged together,one part of the shank serving as a pintle for the last mentioned hinge;a sleeve slidable over the shank hinge to support the hook in verticalposition and spring-pressed latch members to yieldingly retain the framemembers in extended positions.

7. A collapsible wardrobe providing a housing of fabric of rectangularcross section having four side walls and two end walls, one side walldivided between the end walls to provide an opening having complementaryfastening devices to close the opening; two collapsible spreader framesrectangular in cross sections when extended and insertible in thehousing, one at the top and one at the bottom to hold the wallsparallel; a hook on the upper frame extending through the upper end wallby which `to support the structure and a foldable drop bar connected too posite members of the extended spreader rame from which to suspendclothing.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto subscribed my name.

MARY LUCY HALL.

